


004 Black

by Era_Penn



Series: 100 Faces of Tony Stark [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Dark, Dreams, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Nightmares, PTSD, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:26:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Era_Penn/pseuds/Era_Penn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Afghanistan, Tony Stark was a lot less okay than he let on.</p><p>He also slept 37.9% less, and slept peacefully 78.4% less often than before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	004 Black

_When Tony woke up, everything was dark._

He went through the motions. Every night he’d turn out the light, and climb into bed.

_Flourescent lighting did nothing to lighten the space._

He fell asleep fairly easily, usually; and if he didn’t, well, he produced his best work after his longest lab hours.

_It was cold, emphasized by flickering condensation on the walls._

He dreamed of many things. Sometimes he had nightmares, sometimes he didn’t dream at all, and occasionally he dreamt of red hair or dark skin or a beach in California.

_And then he moved, and he couldn’t breath, and the walls weren’t walls at all, but ragged stone._

And then he woke up, and when he woke up it was dark.

_The littlest things drove him crazy. He didn’t have enough food, but had too much water; didn’t have a razor, missed nail clippers of all things._

And all he could remember was black and black and black, undisturbed by the minimal lighting, waiting to sneak up on him. Jarvis let the lights rise, opened the blinds.

Tony shivered. “Turn the lights on before the alarm for now, yeah J?”

“ _Of course, sir,_ ” Jarvis replied.

He was home. The blackness far behind. But his heart, it seemed, didn’t know that yet, despite how fiercely it glowed.


End file.
